Don't Make Them Think: Better Charts Through Better Design | Echo Swinford

SESSION TRACK:
Excel and Power BI

SESSION OUTLINE:
Joseph Yeates will start things off by showing us what's new in Power BI. Then we welcome our feature presenter, Microsoft MVP Echo Swinford.

The best charts communicate their message almost instantly. In this session, Echo focuses on the design side of data visualization – not which chart type to choose, but how to make the charts you create easier to understand. We'll explore how our brains process visual information and how to apply those principles when designing charts. You'll learn practical techniques for emphasizing what's important, removing distractions, improving labels and titles, and preparing charts that look polished both in Excel (and Power BI) and when presented in PowerPoint.

SPEAKER PROFILE:
Echo Swinford has been a Microsoft MVP since 2000, which means she's spent more than two decades enthusiastically "helping" the PowerPoint and Excel charting teams improve their products. She specializes in branded presentation templates for PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Keynote, helping organizations create presentations that are both beautiful and easy to use. These days, she's focused on helping companies embrace Copilot and AI while still remembering the fundamentals of good presentation design.

Connect with and follow Echo online at:

• Website: echosvoice.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/echoswinford

TENTATIVE AGENDA (subject to change, all times listed are in Pacific Time):

• 10:45am Teams Meeting opens to attendees to begin joining
• 11:00am-11:05am Welcome and meeting overview
• 11:05am-11:20am What's New in Power BI
• 11:20am-12:20pm Feature Presentation
• 12:20pm-12:25pm Meeting Wrap-up

REGISTRATION:
This meet-up will be hosted on Microsoft Teams, and will be recorded to share with others who were not able to attend live. You must RSVP for the event in order to access the Teams Meeting link.

JOINING THE EVENT:
Attendees can join the Teams Meeting starting at 10:45am on the day of the event. The link will be visible only if you RSVP beforehand.

Once the event gets underway at 11:00am, we ask that attendees make sure they are on MUTE, so background noise and distractions are minimized.

During the presentation, attendees can type questions and comments into the chat area, which will be monitored by the event hosts. There will be time for Q&A at the end, where attendees can un-mute their mic and even share their video to ask questions.

**NOTE: As mentioned above, this event will be recorded and shared online, so attendee information may be visible in the recording.

A link to the recording will be posted here on the event page and on the Excelguru social media channels once it is available (usually a day or 2 after the event).